The Ailment of Sin
by Diana the Moon Queen
Summary: After an incident with Catherine, Ayano is badly injured. When she awakens, she remembers everything. Everything, that is, except Kazuma.
1. A Fatal Duel

What have I done here? I have reduced Kaze no Stigma from the happy show it is to something so sad it makes you cry… oh well. I'm not promising that people are going to enjoy this story. It's very, very sad. Please leave a review.

Ayano was outside practicing some attacks with Ren, when Kazuma walked up to her. He handed her a piece of paper while drinking his coffee. Ayano rolled her eyes and took it from him, "What is this supposed to be?" Kazuma shrugged his shoulders. Irritated, Ayano looked at the neat writing on the piece of paper.

Duel overmorrow

Same place as last time

-Catherine McDonald

"So she's challenging me again," Ayano said, "I hate her. She's so arrogant! She acts like she can do anything when really, she's another useless moron." Kazuma finished drinking, "You just summarized yourself." Ayano's eyes flared, and you could see the flame in them, "Hey!" Kazuma put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her. "Take it easy Princess. Although you and Catherine are similar, I have to admit that you can easily take her down. Just don't, you know, obliterate her," Kazuma stated. Ayano brushed his hand off, "I can't make any promises. On a completely unrelated note, what the heck is overmorrow?"

"It's the day after tomorrow," Kazuma told her. "Right; I knew that," she scoffed, "Come on Ren! I'm not going easy on you from here on out! I have some butt to whoop!" She intensified Enraiha's flames. Kazuma watched Ren and her go at it like wild animals. He laughed a little. She did just summarize herself. "It's not exactly difficult to explain when your rival is just like you, isn't it?" he thought out loud.

Before they knew it, Ren was already out of breath, but Ayano wasn't even getting started. "This is why I don't like practicing with you, Ren," she told him, "I'm way out of your league; not like I'm bragging or anything." Kazuma stepped forward, "Well, you aren't. It's the truth. Even though my little brother knows how to use the purifying fire, he still has more tricks to learn. I'll train will you, but I won't hold back." Ayano ignored the last part, "Then let's go!"

It was two days later. Ayano was ready for this fight, or so she thought. She was waiting for Catherine to arrive, and Kazuma even let her drink some of his coffee. Ayano didn't get why he was so upset when she drank his coffee. The guy had practically half of the money in the world! Suddenly, she felt like she was being watched. She heard a voice say, "Metatron, Go!"

Ayano smiled, "Hey Catherine." She blocked the blow from the spirit beast and tried to slash its arm, but it easily evaded the strike. "Is that all you have, Kannagi?" Catherine taunted? Ayano laughed, "All I have? Please! I was just getting started!" Catherine snickered, "Same to you!"

"Metatron!"

"Enraiha!"

Kazuma was hiding behind a bench. He didn't tell any of the girls, but he loved watching them dish it out. He had never seen two warriors so evenly matched. They had the same technique, at least, until he taught them something.

"Wisps, Catherine McDonald, the most powerful living fire mage, summons you!" Catherine called out. About fifteen wisps surrounded Ayano. They all fired at once, but she was ready. She did a 360 strike on them, and they all disappeared, but she wasn't prepared for what was next. When she turned to face Catherine, Metatron was already in her face. She was too surprised to react in anyway. Metatron cut a large slash across her abdomen.

Kazuma's eyes grew wide, "Was that really necessary?" he thought out loud, "If she had just jumped, that wouldn't have happened. I think Catherine may have forgotten the rules, or she did that on purpose because she thought on one was watching."

Catherine walked towards an unconscious Ayano, laughing her hardy laugh. "Now Miss Kannagi, I think we've determined the winner of this duel, but…" She stomped on Ayano's head five times, and then kicked her to Metatron. "If I hurt you even more than I have, you could have injuries that could cause you to forget all of your battle experience. That way, I can just snatch Enraiha out of your pretty little hands. What do you think of that?" Metatron and Catherine were kicking Ayano back and forth, like she was a soccer ball. "There won't be anything you can do, so get ready. The McDonalds, and not the Kannagis, are the most powerful fire users on the planet!" She did her sick little laugh again.

"Catherine, I think you've done enough," Kazuma stood up. Catherine gasped. She clearly couldn't detect his presence. "I'm going to take the princess to a hospital," he said, "Don't do something like that again." He lifted up Ayano's body and looked at a shocked Catherine. "Have a nice day." He walked to the nearest hospital. Ayano's heart was breathing incredibly fast, and there were bruises all over her face. Her cut wasn't that deep, but it was still a cut nonetheless. He knew he had to keep an eye on Catherine, now that he knew what she was willing to do when she thought nobody was watching.

In the hospital, he stayed by Ayano for the entire day. The doctors patched up her cut and warned him of some things that might happen to her. "Judging by some of the wounds on her head, he might forget a couple of things, but it's not that serious, so she doesn't need an MRI. She might forget somebody's name, or that something belongs to her, but besides that, it won't be that much."

Kazuma was not worried at all. He was sure that she would wake up as her regular old self. He expected her to yell at him, and to insist that she needed no help. However, things went terribly wrong when she awoke. She very slowly opened her eyes. "Hey there Princess," he said mockingly. She tried to sit up, but he told her not to, "Don't strain yourself. That cut is a sad excuse for a cut, but if you sit up, it might start bleeding." She looked at him, as if she was confused, and she said something that Kazuma never, _ever _wanted to hear in his life.

"Who are you?"


	2. Conflicting Thoughts

Yep. It only gets better, or worse (depending on how you view it), from there. Well, please leave a review, and "enjoy."

Kazuma took a step back out of shock. "What did you just say?" he asked in disbelief. "Listen pal, if you don't tell me who exactly you are and what I'm doing in this hospital, I'm going to have to force it out of you," Ayano threatened. "Well don't you remember? I'm your selfish, greedy, handsome, jerk body guard!" Kazuma laughed as he plastered a fake smile onto his face.

_This ain't good._

"Body guard? What are you talking about? I don't have a body guard! I don't need a body guard!" she yelled, "What are you talking about?" The smile on Kazuma's face was blown off. "HeylookatthetimeIthinkIhaveanappointmentwithJugoy eahhe'sprobablygoingtokillmeonecehefiguresth-isout yeahimgoingtodieokbyegottarunseeyoulater!" he exclaimed.

Kazuma ran. He ran as fast as his legs could take him without falling off. The doctor was right, except for the minority of the problem. She didn't just forget his name, she completely forgot him. He took out his cell phone and called Ren.

"Hey Kazuma!" Ren said. "Go to the hospital where the old man was. Ask for Ayano's room and go there. Now," Kazuma commanded. "What's wrong? Did something happen to Ayano?" Ren asked. "Ren, if something didn't happen to her, why would she have her own room in a hospital? Now go there and make sure that she doesn't get out of there," Kazuma hung up.

Once inside the house of the Kannagis, Kazuma explained everything to Jugo. "Did you tell Kirika?" the head asked. "No; not yet, but what should we do about Ayano?" Kazuma said. "Why are you so concerned for her all of a sudden?" Jugo interrogated. "Answer the question," Kazuma demanded. "I did. I answered your question with a question," Jugo said in a matter-of-factly way, "I think I have a quick fix for the problem. Kirika has a case for you. There are three youma in a single neighborhood. You and Ayano are going to take them down. There is no instant solution to this problem, so you're going to have to remind her who you are step by step. Oh yes, since there are three youma, I'm going to pay you triple the amount of the usual. That is all. You're dismissed."

Kazuma nodded. As he was about to close the door, Jugo said something else, "And Kazuma, don't just remind her of who you are, but what you mean to her." Kazuma slammed the door behind him. He didn't feel like saying anything. Actually, he felt like screaming at the unfairness of the world, but he held back. Why was this happening? Why him? He was more upset than he was with what happened to, not Ayano, but _her_.

"She's dead. You know that. You can't bring her back no matter what you do," he told himself. "What I mean to Ayano? She just thinks I'm a jerk, and that's all!" he thought. "The way she talked to me back there. It was like she didn't know me," he said. He turned around and punched a tree as hard as he could, "That's because she doesn't you idiot!" He took a couple minutes to calm down, and then looked at the sky. "I wish I was able to protect you. If I had saved you, then none of this would have happened," he said. He summoned some wind and looked at his hands, "Why do I have this power anyway?"

"_We have these powers so that we can protect people who can't protect themselves! You're the one who taught me that, and don't act like you don't remember!"_

"_Look scared? Well blame yourself! You taught me everything I know Kazuma! The meaning of power, what it means to wield it, you even taught me the reason of our existence!" _

"_The truth is that I've always looked up to you Kazuma. I always worked so hard to try and match your abilities. You gave me a reason to become stronger."_

"_I have too much respect for you to let you do this to yourself! Too much respect for you to turn yourself into this monster!"_

"That's right," Kazuma said, "She said that." He managed to calm himself. He up again, "Do you think she meant it, Tsui Ling?" Of course, the sky didn't answer him, but the smallest part of him believed it did. "You're right. She probably did. You could just see it in the way she looked at me. I guess I have to protect her now more than ever, isn't that right?" he said. The sky did not change for him. It stayed the way it always was, and the sun continued to look down on him.

He decided to pay her a visit. He began to look at other people and watch what they were doing. It was all so strange, this world he was in. It was strange how people ate, how people laughed, and how they needed to breathe. Then again, he wasn't the average Joe himself.

He took a deep breath and opened her door. She looked at him, her eyes filled with distrust. Kazuma simply forced on that same plastic smile he did earlier, but it killed him to do so. "Kazuma, you're here!" Ren exclaimed as he ran to his brother and gave him a short hug.

Kazuma looked at Ayano. He then formulated how he would do it, and then introduced himself. "Hello Princess. I don't think you remember me. I'm Kazuma Yagami. I'm Ren's brother, and your body guard. We often work together on cases. Once you get out of this stinky hospital, there's one that Detective Tachibana would like us to solve," he told her. "Wait, you said Ren's brother? That makes you Kazuma Kannagi! You were kicked out of the family a long time ago! What are you doing here? What, trying to get revenge? Yeah? Well, I'm not going to let you hurt Ren!"

"Enraiha, come forth!"

The legendary blade was in her hands. Kazuma laughed, "Put that away. I'm not here for revenge; I'm here to fix things up. Besides, you can't beat me with that stick." Ren tugged on her sleeve, "Its true Ayano. Nobody can beat him, not even Father." Ayano looked shocked. Kazuma smiled at the fact that she didn't know about how much he hated that old man. "You beat Genma?" she asked. Kazuma nodded. "I see. I guess I can't beat you after all. I'm Ayano Kannagi. It's nice to meet you Kazuma Yagami," she said. Kazuma didn't want to say this. It felt like they were strangers all over again, but it would be rude if he didn't say it. So he did, "Nice to meet you too Princess."


	3. A Case and a Choice

I honestly feel so, so sorry for Kazuma, which is ironic because I'm the one who thought up this little ordeal for him. Well, not much we can do about that, now is there? Please "enjoy" and leave a review.

"Ready to get onto that case, Princess?" Kazuma asked her. "You know, I could have taken down these ones by myself," she scoffed. "I know that, but apparently, Old man Jugo is concerned for his baby girl and he decided to send this big boy to protect her," he smiled. "That's not funny," she growled. "I'm not trying for it to be funny; I'm just telling you the truth."

"Alright, so how do we find these youma? I can't sense anything," Ayano looked around. "Well, you have me. Since I'm a wind user, I can track all three down easily. Kirika says its three auras jammed into one. It might have three heads. We're going to take this one head on, but when didn't we take them head on anyway? It's your fault; you kept screwing up the plans," he stated. He drank his coffee as he pretended to care about what she was yelling now. He sent a breeze to find the youma, or youmas.

"So, what so you say Princess? Ready to kill some youma, or are you going to stand there looking like a three year old attracting attention by yelling at me?" Kazuma asked her. "I think I would rather yell at you!" she exclaimed. "If your loud voice doesn't kill me, then just the sight of you will. Now shut up. You're scaring it away," he told her, slightly annoyed, and slightly appeased.

The truth was he loved screwing with her, even in this state. He didn't care about first impressions. He was one of those people that just didn't give one. It was hard to explain, but he just did what he was told to in a flash, and then was on his way. The wind came back to him with the precise location of the youma.

"Ayano, hold on to me. No matter what, don't let go," he told her. But of course, she was outraged. "Who gave you permission to call me by my first name?" she demanded to know. Kazuma ignored her, "Hold on tighter, unless you want to fall fifteen stories from the ground." Kazuma flew right after he told her that, and he enjoyed her screaming and yelling. She did that the first time too.

He searched the area, telling Ayano to shut it multiple times. It was cute at first, but now it was getting annoying. That was just how it worked with Ayano. Finally, he saw the youma. As he guessed, it was three auras combined into one. It was basically a triad of youma that looked like humans. They were three little girls.

"What does the noble Kazuma Yagami want with us?" they asked in unison, not even bothering to turn around. "Nothing much; just rip your guts out while you still live. That's all," he coolly replied. "What makes you think you can?" they asked. "A lot of things," he said. "Let's just kick their asses already!"

"Enraiha, come forth!"

Ayano attempted a clean strike that would cleave off all three heads, but one arm easily caught Enraiha while the sword was still on fire. It tossed it aside like it was nothing. "What? How did you just do that? Tell me!" Ayano said, clearly upset. She raced to get her sword back, but one of the creature's arms had claws. They were heading straight for her face. She braced herself and closed her eyes. She heard a blasting noise and felt no impact. She nervously opened her eyes and found that Kazuma made a wind barrier that deflected the attack.

"Just relax Princess," Kazuma said to her, "I got this." He sent a couple blasts of wind towards the monster, which shredded it with all ease. "I'm done. You can get your stick back," he said, pointing to Enraiha. "Yeah, I figured that out already," she glared.

_Who does he think he is? Is he always going to steal my thunder?_

Suddenly, someone tripped her, and she did a face plant. The creature got back up, with about one hundred extra arms. Some had claws, others had scales. Kazuma shook his head and said, "You just don't know when to give up." He tried to cut off an arm just to see what would happen. A couple seconds after he did so, two arms grew back in its place.

Ayano tried striking from behind and cut off six of the things arms. "How do you like that?" she taunted. "Oh yeah, it likes that a lot!" Kazuma yelled to her. Then, right before her eyes, the twelve hideous arms appeared. They grabbed her, and they were about to tear all of her limbs off, but Kazuma cut it right in half before it could.

"Why did you do that?" Ayano asked. "Well, it looked like you needed help. If you die, I'm not going to get paid by your father to put up with all your crap," Kazuma insulted. "I could take care of it by myself! I didn't ask for your help, so why don't you get out of here?" she questioned. "Didn't you hear me, Oh great highness of deaf? I'm getting paid," he replied. "So if you aren't getting paid, you aren't bothering me?" she dumbly asked. "Nah. I think I'd stay for the fun of it," Kazuma laughed. "You just love pissing me off, don't you?" Ayano yelled, "I wish you were dead!"

"_Her last thought was that she wished you were dead."_

Kazuma's world froze entirely. "I wish you were dead," and "Her last thought was that she wished you were dead," kept echoing in his mind. Those were the only things he could hear, and they wouldn't stop. He replayed Tsui Ling's death over and over again in his mind. He just couldn't take it. He broke out of the illusion and came back to the real world. He had Ayano in a firm embrace when he returned.

"Don't say that," he told her, "Don't you ever say that." Ayano had no idea how to react. Why did he treat her like such a friend? Wasn't he just some annoying jerk? Or was he something more than that? She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember why he was so upset either. She didn't know how to react any other way, so she just said, "I'm sorry," as she tried to walk away, but he wouldn't let go.

Kazuma didn't let her go. He get made his grip tighter. He didn't feel like letting her go into the cruel world, with cruel people, and cruel ways. She was just a little girl, but he still had the obligation of protecting her. He would just like to keep her with him. He would like to keep her safe forever, and this time he could live up to his word, not like what happened with Tsui Ling. However, he knew what would happen if he held on too tightly to her. Life was just so unfair. He knew he could keep her safe, but for how long? He could only say one thing for certain: no matter what he did, and no matter how fate played the cards, in the end, she would die.


	4. Have you ever had ice cream?

Please "enjoy" and leave a review!

Kazuma was just going back to the Kannagi property with Ayano, when he decided to take a walk with her. "So, what do you want?" he asked her. "I should be the one asking you that. Why did you drag me here with you?" Ayano snapped. "Could you calm down? I just wanted to treat you to something," he pointed out, "and I wanted to talk to you. Hey, maybe we should get that ice cream stuff." Ayano's face brightened when she heard the words "ice," and "cream." She began pulling on his arm, "So we can go? Really?" Kazuma smiled, "Yeah, whatever makes you happy."

They got to the ice cream place, and Kazuma got some for Ayano. "Thanks," she said as she gratefully took the cone from him, "Aren't you going to get some?" Kazuma shook his head, "I've never really had it, and right now, you could say I'm not in the mood to try something new." Ayano's eyes began to pop out of their sockets, "HOW HAVE YOU NEVER HAD ICE CREAM?!" Kazuma relaxed in the seat as she yelled, "Well, fun wasn't really a priority for me." Ayano looked down in shock, "Yeah but… you have to have had ice cream at least once in your life…"

"Yeah, well, I didn't come here just to get that little cone for you. You're going to have to pay me back for that," he said. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" she asked. "Me," Kazuma replied, "If you still had your memories, then you would call me a self centered jerk." Ayano licked her ice cream, "Well, actually, I think you're a self centered, arrogant freak, but go on. What were you going to say?"

"Ayano, you've become more stupid than ever," he calmly told her. He knew that he was going to get her rage, but since when did her care? "What did you say?" Ayano growled. "Without your memories, you've become more of an idiot than you already were. So, I'm going to teach you how to remember," Kazuma stated. "I'm not so sure I would want to remember anymore, you jerk!" she yelled at him, devouring one entire scoop in a single bite. Kazuma smiled, and thought, "That's the old Ayano."

"So, what do you say I take you back home Princess?"

"Yeah, no."

"And why not?"

"Just let me finish my ice cream!"

"Fine. You've got five minutes."

"Five minutes?! That's barely even enough time!"

"So why are you wasting it?"


	5. Injury of the Body, Injury of the Soul

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The claws were about to hit Ayano. Her life flashed right in front of her eyes. She braced herself. Of course, Kazuma came in to rescue her. He already sorted out his priorities, and made up his mind as to where protecting Ayano and making her remember was. He shoved her out of the way, but his timing was a little off. He was certain that he could save both himself and Ayano, but his timing changed the outcome. Ayano was alright, but he felt searing pains in his chest, abdomen, and left shoulder. Ayano looked at him and gasped as he coughed out blood.

"I think…I might have messed up this time… Princess…" he trailed off as he collapsed to the ground. "Kazuma!" Ayano yelled as she raced to examine his injuries. "Move!" she yelled to the youma. She cut off the thing's head as she ran, not even realizing that she had killed it. She kneeled down next to his body, which she hoped wasn't already a corpse. "Oh my God; are you okay? Stupid, of course he's not okay!" she exclaimed to herself, as Kazuma had lost his consciousness a while ago. "Please be okay… This is my fault. I was too powerless to protect myself, and I knew you were there, so forgot… I forgot that I'm a warrior! I'm so sorry! Oh God, if Father finds out that I let this happen, I'm going to die!" she panicked. "There's nothing much you can do for him by yourself," she said. She decided to call her father to tell him what happened. Genma and Ren were on their way to help her with this crisis already. In the meantime, she waited. She was pacing back and forth and thinking hard about what would happen to Kazuma. Worse, what her father would do to her.

After some difficulty with Genma, they managed to bring Kazuma to a hospital. Ayano learned that her father would be doing nothing to her, as they discussed that it was Kazuma's own fault. It wasn't like Ayano let that happen on purpose. Although she was relieved, something just didn't feel right. It felt so wrong that she wasn't punished, and she couldn't figure out why. "No, I do know," she said, "It's because I was there. I should have taken that blow. That idiot! Why did he do that?"

It was all that the Kannagi family was talking about. Unable to keep it to himself anymore, Ren decided to talk to Ayano about it. "I hope he's okay," he said. "I doubt it. He lost a lot of blood, and the wounds were very deep. If we're lucky, then none of them have pierced his vital organs," Ayano bluntly said. "How could you say that?" Ren asked. She looked at him. His eyes were filled with concern, but not all of it was for Kazuma. "You know," he said, "The old Ayano would never be able to say something like what you just said. She could never even think something like that!" Ayano stared at him for a while, and then had her answer, "I'm not trying to be pessimistic, Ren. I'm just telling the truth."

Later that night, while Ayano was sleeping, she had a very odd dream. She seemed to be at and amusement park. She stared longingly at a roller coaster. She looked, and Kazuma was right next to her, looking very tired. She looked at the people passing by her. There were two suspicious looking women that caught her eye, but she got sidetracked by something else. There was a couple. They looked happy as they were yapping away, but she had no interest in what they were saying. She looked down and saw that they were holding hands. She looked at Kazuma's hand that was right next to her. She was so tempted. Slowly, and carefully she moved her hand closer to his, until her pinky was daring to touch his hand.

"Hey," Kazuma said. Startled, Ayano stood up, "What? What did I do? Idon'tknowaboutyoubutIwasn'tdoinganything!" she gasped. "Not that it has anything to do with the case, but you see that janitor that just came out of the women's restroom? I think that's a man dressed as a woman," he stated. Ayano went over there to confirm if the suspicions were correct, and sure enough, they were. Out of the man's bag fell a camcorder. "Oh, I understand now," Kazuma said. "You perv! Take that! And this! And that too!" she yelled as she viciously stomped on the man's face. Kazuma grabbed both of her shoulders to hold her back, "Hey, take it easy. You might actually kill him!" They heard noise, and turned their attention to two men who were hitting on women. The two girls looked frightened as the men spoke to them. Ayano appeared to them, about to hit them with a flying kick. "I'M ABOUT TO TEACH YOU A LESSON IN MANNERS YOU PERVERTED FREAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKSSSSSS!"

Kazuma looked as Ayano gave the two dudes a beating. He then picked up the camcorder and played the video. Halfway through, he saw something shocking. He took a closer look to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. "DDDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!" he heard someone scream. Ayano tried to perform a high kick, but Kazuma simply blocked it and pushed forward, causing her to fall.

Ayano woke up with a start. She realized how hot it was, and opened her window. Instead of going straight back to bed, she looked out the window and began talking to herself. "Did that actually happen?" she said. "Why did I want to hold Kazuma's hand? He's just…a jerk," she told herself. She sighed, and then covered the area of her chest where her heart was with her hand, "Or is he? Who is Kazuma? Why do I feel this way? I don't even know him. I don't know him anymore at least. You promised that you wouldn't like guys. So…why?"

_I should probably go visit him tomorrow._


	6. Let's make this Interesting, shall we?

Please enjoy and leave a review! This is one of the lighter chapters, so I promise nothing sudden will happen.

"Kazuma Yagami's room please," Ayano requested. "Third floor, room seventeen B," the nurse replied. Ayano rode the elevator without a word. Once she got to his room, she saw him standing up. "Hey! You shouldn't be standing yet!" she said. Kazuma looked at her and said, "Don't freak out Princess. I didn't hurt myself too much. Did you forget that I'm a contractor?" Ayano was irritated, "NO! It's not like that at all! I was just worried, and- WAIT, YOU'RE A CONTRACTOR?! WHAT?!" Kazuma nodded. "You said you were worried, right? Why thank you Ayano. I am truly touched," he said. He used any opportunity he could to screw with her pretty little head. "IT'S NOT LIKE THAT! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS?!" she yelled. "Settle down. I figured that it might be more awesome if I showed you instead," Kazuma said. He made it up on the spot, but he didn't think that she was smart enough to figure it out. "Besides," he added, "You already knew."

"Never mind that; are you getting checked out already?" she asked. Kazuma nodded, "Yeah. They checked me this morning and said that I could leave." Ayano looked at him. Everything seemed to be fine. She decided that she might tell him about the dream she had. "Hey, can I ask you something?" she said. "What?" Kazuma said. "Well…I had a dream…"

"And then, I fell," Ayano said. "You're beginning to remember," Kazuma muttered under his breath. "What was that?" she asked with hostility in her voice. "Nothing. That was just a stupid dream. Nothing like that ever happened," he said.

_Let's see if she can figure it out. _


	7. Just Shut Up!

**I got an idea! Finally! This one is going to be a bit short, but still, please enjoy and leave a review!**

_**Just Shut Up!**_

"I don't understand what's wrong with you! I get my butt kicked, and you're just sleeping! ! I mean, what is your problem?" Ayano yelled. She had forgotten how much of a pain in the ass Kazuma could be. "I mean, if you're so powerful, than how come you never help me out?" she asked. He ignored her. She knocked his coffee out of his hands and began to yell at him some more, "Answer me you idiot!" Kazuma looked at the coffee on the ground, then at her. Ayano gulped. She had never seen him look so upset before.

"You aren't answering you lolicon!" Ayano yelled, "And when I want something, I wan-eh!" She was interrupted by Kazuma grabbing her by the collar. He didn't make any eye contact with her whatsoever. His head was inching closer to hers. When their noses were almost touching, he looked up, and then, locked his lips with hers. How long had he wanted to do that? A while, and now more than ever.

Ayano's face had turned beet red as she stood there, paralyzed with shock. Then, when he had stopped kissing her, she covered her lips with a hand. "What was that?" she asked. Her voice was muffled, but you could hear how frightened and little girl like she sounded. "You know, I've always wanted to shut you up by kissing you, because you're just like that for me. You don't deserve a smack, and you don't deserve fireworks either, but you're good enough that I would kiss you for a long time," Kazuma told her. "Now, shut up."


	8. Innocence

**I came around to this story again! Yay! Ok, so as usual, please enjoy and leave a review!  
**

Kazuma's phone rang, and on instinct, he answered it.

"Hey Kirika."

"Kazuma, this is about Catherine."

"Did she fess up yet?"

"She said that she didn't do such a thing, and so just to be sure, we hooked her up to a lie detector. She's not lying, Kazuma. Catherine didn't do anything wrong."

"What? How is that possible? I was there! I saw it!"

"She's innocent, Kazuma. I'm not saying that I don't believe you, but Catherine is not at fault. The police department is looking into some possibilities, and the return of pandemonium definitely one of them. How's Ayano doing?"

"Saying bad would be a total understatement. Hell, I even kissed her and she's completely clueless!"

"I have some cases you two could work on, if that helps."

"Thanks Kirika."

"Well, I have to go. See you later!"

Kazuma didn't have the chance to say bye, as she had already hung up on him. He couldn't help but think how related everything was. Catherine innocent? The return of Pandemonium? Ayano losing her memories? It all made sense. He knew who was behind this, and that person was a dead man. However, he also knew that if he was going to kill him, he needed Ayano's help. Still, he was distressed.

"What the hell is this?"


	9. The End of the Beginning

**As usual, please enjoy and leave a review.**

They were coming straight for her. Her entire life flashed before her eyes. Frightened, she closed them, but the expected impact never came.

"Did the bad dragon scare you? Open your eyes," Kazuma said. Ayano nervously opened her eyes and looked up at him, who was carrying her through the air bridal style. "K-Kazuma?"

_Did he rescue me?_

The dragon was about to get them from behind, but Ren took matters into his own hands. "You get away from them!" he yelled as he blasted fire at the dragon's claw-like tentacles. "Thanks for the hand Ren!" Kazuma exclaimed. "Why did you do that? If you want to save Misao so badly, then why did you waste your energy on me?" Ayano asked. "I don't see why you should have to die for me to save her," Kazuma stated.

"Make up your mind! Whose side are you on?"

"Why are you always talking about sides? I have the power to protect all of you, so that's what I'm going to do."

"Protect all of us? But I thought-"

"I didn't acquire this power to let people die. I have a responsibility to protect others now. I'm going to save Misao, but I'm still going to defend you and Ren. The only person who is going to die is that cocky little bastard back there. Is that alright with you?"

"Yeah; of course. Sounds good to me."

Kazuma smiled, but then suddenly cringed in pain and went down on his knees. "Kazuma! Are you alright?" Ayano asked. Then, she saw blood on his jacket. "You're bleeding…this happened when you rescued me, didn't it?" she said. "It's nothing. I'm okay," Kazuma reassured her. "No you're not!" she asserted, "You've been hurt, and right now, you have got to stop the bleeding and try to recover. Ren and I will hold him off until you're back on your feet again."

"I can't just leave you two on your own," Kazuma insisted. Ayano, who was shocked by his stubbornness, grabbed him by the collar. "Listen, idiot! You want to protect Misao don't you? And you just said that you're going to protect me and Ren. Well, you're not doing us any good bleeding to death. You made a promise and I'm holding you to it!"

Kazuma smiled and randomly hugged her. "Uh…Kazuma?" Ayano asked. "You know what? I think you'll turn out to be a damn fine woman one day," Kazuma said. Ayano blushed a little. "What do you mean 'might?' Thanks for the lack of confidence, but I know I'll be a good woman," she added. "Is that so?" Kazuma mocked, letting go of her. "Give me five minutes," he said, "Just keep him busy."

**000000000000000000000**

Ayano woke up with a start. "What is with all of these dreams?" she wondered out loud. "None of these actually happened, so they aren't memories. Could it be that they're…desires?" she asked herself. "I don't know… it feels like it," she said. "Make up your mind, Ayano," she added. She tried to go to sleep again, but for about thirty minutes, she lay there in the dark. She wondered what all of this was. What was happening to her? Why?

**0000000000000000000000**

Kazuma dumped a bunch of files onto the coffee table. "How many cases is that?" Ayano asked. "Exactly sixteen," Kazuma lazily responded. "We're supposed to solve all of those?" she yelled. "Yep. They're not that hard though, so it shouldn't take us too long. We should be able to solve them today," he told her. "Well if that's how it is, then fine, but why am I always stuck with you?" Ayano teased. "I thought we established this already. Let's go."


	10. Dinner

**As usual, please enjoy and leave a review.**

_**Dinner**_

Ayano stuck her hand through the last youma, and lit it on fire. "Well, now that that's taken care of, let's go home," she sighed. It didn't even take them an hour to destroy all of the youma. "Hold on," Kazuma said, "What about dinner?" Ayano looked at him, shocked. "You think that I would ever want to eat with you? What a joke! I mean seriously, Kazuma. Are you so stupid that you don't even know your place?" she taunted. "Well, I get paid doing nothing. What else would I spend all of this money on?" he winked. He tried to play his trump card and use her insults against her. However, since the accident, she probably didn't even remember all of her clever comebacks; let alone what a good meal tasted like.

"So, where are you taking me? WcDonald's?" Ayano asked, getting annoyed. "Nah," Kazuma said. "Then where?" Ayano yelled. Kazuma remained silent. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" she exclaimed, "Kazuma! Idiot! Hello?"

* * *

Ayano looked at the menu that was in her hands. It was like gold. Everything here was so expensive. She just couldn't believe that a jerk like Kazuma would even consider treating her to a place that served food from the heavens.

"Now, this is the most expensive restaurant in town," Kazuma mentioned. He tried to spark a nice conversation, and refresh her memory. "What do you mean now? I know that this place has been here for a while, but I've never actually been here," Ayano said, still trying to choose which strange food to eat. "Well, we went to what was the most expensive restaurant a while back, but we kind of made a mess out of it, so…yeah… I think it's a department store now," Kazuma explained.

"We destroyed it? Really?" Ayano asked, shocked. "Just the top floor," Kazuma said. "What do you think is good?" she asked, "I've never heard of these foods before…" Her male companion looked at the menu and pointed to a selection. "Never heard of lobster, huh?" he asked. "I didn't mean it that way! I just over looked it. That's all," she exclaimed. "Well, get the lobster then. That's supposed to be really good, but I haven't tried it yet," Kazuma said.

The food came, and as they ate, Kazuma watched her. Ayano could feel his eyes on her, but she thought nothing of it. Suddenly, he said something. "Want a dessert? They have this Italian ice cream here. It's not gelato though," he asked. "Umm… sure," she said. She was kind of flustered by this, but at least that was more on the bill. As much as she hated to admit it, she was actually beginning to enjoy spending time with Kazuma.


End file.
